HALFWAY HOUSE REJECTED

Cape Girardeau's Planning and Zoning Commission Wednesday night rejected a proposal for a halfway house at Gibson Recovery Center Inc.

The commission voted 6-3 to turn down the Gibson Center's request for a special-use permit and zoning change to allow operation of a halfway house program to serve inmates from the Missouri Division of Probation and Parole.

Some members cited opposition by parents and staff at a neighboring school for severely handicapped children as the reason for their votes against the halfway house.

Dick Decker, executive director of Gibson Center, said he will follow up with the request to the City Council March 2, when a public hearing on the issue will be held.

"I see no reason to quit at this point," said Decker.

He told commissioners that the center originally offered a residential treatment program that lasted up to two years at the center.

There is some question whether the special-use permit and rezoning would be necessary since the residential treatment program was allowed when the facility opened at 1112 Linden St. in 1990, said Decker.

"We've been through this before" when the center was forced to move from its previous site at Park and Main, Decker said.

Parkview State School opened on Linden Street in 1977. No one from the school opposed the Gibson Center opening there, said Terri Neumeyer, a teacher at the school. But with the halfway house proposal, "it's not the same program," she said.

Angie Beauchamp, whose son attends the school, said she was pleased by the commission's decision. "I know it's just an advisory commission, but it's a first step," she said.

The City Council will make the final decision.

R.J. McKinney, who voted to grant the Gibson Center's requests, limited comments during Wednesday night's public hearing on the issue. Each side could present only three speakers, and each speaker was limited to five minutes.

McKinney called Wednesday night's action "a rehash" of the November meeting when the issue originally went before the commission. In November, the commission voted unanimously to grant both the special-use and rezoning applications.

Cape Girardeau attorney Al Lowes spoke on behalf of parents of children at Parkview State School who are opposed to the halfway house program.

"I can't think of a worse place on Earth to put a halfway house when you've got child molesters and rapists there," he said. "It's one thing to put a drunk out there. They treat drunks and druggies, and that's fine. But you've got absolutely helpless kids that are there during the day.

"Would you really want that next to your kids or grandkids, even if they're healthy?" Lowes asked. "Murder is pretty much a one-time thing, but child molesters, pedophiles and rapists, you ain't ever going to change them, short of the Lord calling them up and re-arranging their molecular structure."

Supporters of the project -- Gibson Center and Missouri Division of Probation and Parole staff -- say the center is already providing treatment to a number of men on probation or parole.

The difference is that, with the halfway house, inmates will be released directly into a treatment program rather than waiting to be referred to a program after their release, said Clarence Ackman, regional director of the Missouri Division of Probation and Parole.

The Gibson Center is now "housing and treating the same types of clients that they will be if this contract comes into effect with the state," said Ted Yates, an attorney representing the center.

The halfway house program is aimed at smoothing the transition from prison to the community while providing residential drug and alcohol treatment.

Commission members said it was a hard decision to make.

"We have considered this before and voted before," said Harry Rediger. "Per the opposition from the school, I think at this point I'm going to change my vote to no. I understand the concerns."

Tom Mogelnicki, who also voted against the requests, said he is concerned about the potential for security breaches if the halfway house opens.

"I think what you're doing is great, and I think it's a well-needed thing," he told Decker. "But we've got to be careful. If something happens in six months and I voted yes, I'd feel terrible."

McKinney pointed out that the inmates in the halfway house would be living in the facility and would be supervised. Many of the Probation and Parole clients now being served have no such supervision.

McKinney, Charles Hauboldt and Tom Holshouser voted to grant the requests.

Mogelnicki, Rediger, Denny Vollink, Robert Cox, George Brockhorst Sr. and Bob Blank voted against the requests.

The halfway house proposal originally went to the City Council in December. It was tabled at the request of the Gibson Center and Division of Probation and Parole.

The request was temporarily withdrawn last month after it was discovered that Cape Girardeau Mayor Al Spradling III and Councilman Melvin Gateley served on an advisory committee to the Gibson Center.

Spradling and Gateley were to be removed from that committee.